The present invention relates to a recipient or housing for a gas ultracentrifuge.
The recipient for a gas ultracentrifuge constitutes a housing for a rotor spinning about a perpendicular axis, including a drive, the bearings and a gas intake and gas outlet systems. At the same time, it serves as a vacuum vessel and provides protection against rotor chips and fragment freely flying about in case of rotor destruction. The connection to the concrete foundation of the building is established through a base flange bolted to anchor bolts cast in the foundation. This base flange normally is welded to the cylindrical shell of the recipient. Like a gyro, the bottom end of the rotor is supported by a calotte-shaped needle bearing, the top end being centered by a magnetic bearing (see, e.g., DE-PS 1,071,593 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,925). If such a rotor spinning at extremely high speeds were to be destroyed because of an imbalance or for other reasons, it would hit the shell of the recipient with great impact. The spin inherent in the rotor in this case would be passed through the recipient shell, the welding seam of the base flange, the base flange, the connecting bolts and the anchor bolts into the concrete foundation of the building. The crashing moment produced in this case is extremely high because of the abruptness of the crash and the high stiffness of the recipient shell and its fastening elements. Consequently, also the torsional load acting on the welding seam connecting the base flange and the recipient shell, and the shear force and the bending moment acting on the attachment bolts, are very high. Fracture of this welding seam or the fastening elements can lead to severe, undesired consequences, such as the ingress of air into the recipient or shaking and crashing of the rotors of adjacent centrifuges.